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Following an order from the Supreme Court of Nepal, authorities released on Thursday the country's former prime minister and his home minister, ending a two-week detention on criminal negligence charges stemming from a deadly police crackdown on youth-led protests last year.
The release of the former premier, K.P. Sharma Oli, and the former home minister, Ramesh Lekhak, marks the latest twist in a political upheaval that has reshaped the Himalayan nation. The two men were arrested on March 28, barely 18 hours after Balendra Shah, a 35-year-old rapper-turned-politician and former mayor of Kathmandu, was sworn in as prime minister with a mandate to deliver accountability.
Their detention was directly tied to the violent suppression of the massive "Gen Z" demonstrations in 2025 that left 76 people dead. A high-level investigative commission recently concluded that the fatalities resulted from extreme negligence and a failure of command responsibility. The commission formally recommended the criminal prosecution of Oli, Lekhak, and Chandra Kuber Khapung, the former national police chief.
The Supreme Court, which had initially declined to intervene when the men were arrested under emergency government warrants, ruled on Monday that the authorities must either formally conclude their investigation or free the suspects. Pravin Dhital, a spokesperson for the Kathmandu Valley Police, said both former officials were released on the condition that they remain available to investigators.
Oli, 74, who resigned in September 2025 as the street demonstrations reached a boiling point, is currently hospitalized. He was admitted for heart complications shortly after his arrest and said he would remain under medical supervision for further testing.
In a statement posted to social media following his release, Oli dismissed the investigation as a politically motivated witch hunt. He asserted that the new government had acted “with prejudice and vindictiveness,” holding him for 13 days without sufficient evidence. Despite the collapse of his government last fall, the four-time prime minister remains a formidable political force, having been elected to a third term as chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) in December.
In a separate but equally high-profile move toward political accountability, Nepal’s anti-corruption agency filed criminal charges against a former speaker of Parliament, Krishna Bahadur Mahara, and his son in connection with an international smuggling ring.
The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority alleged that Mahara, his son Rahul, and senior customs officials smuggled more than 8.4 kilograms of gold into the country in 2022 by concealing it inside electronic cigarettes at Tribhuvan International Airport.
According to the charge sheet, the scheme generated more than 77 million Nepali rupees (about $527,000) in illicit proceeds, which were subsequently "laundered through land purchases and bank accounts belonging to various associates and Dexter Travels and Tours Pvt. Ltd."
Mahara was initially arrested in October 2025 in the wake of the mass protests that toppled the political establishment, though he was released on bail the following month.
